Through the Bible, Through the Year

John Stott, internationally acclaimed preacher, scholar, and one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2005 offers original, “deeper than Sunday School” insights on the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. As in his other writings, a biblical worldview, is his framework for this project. The author is the epitome of authentic biblical scholarship.

Through the Bible, Through the Year guides readers through the Bible according to the church calendar. But being a gray-haired rebel in blue jeans, I’m not reading the sections according to the correlating church calendar schedule. (Okay, it is really because I started reading in mid-January instead of on the first of the year). The book is laid out in a weekly (Sunday to Saturday), which makes it easy to pick up anytime.

Seeking to renew a Trinitarian approach to Scripture, Stott divides these daily reflections into three sections: on how God the Father revealed himself in the Old Testament, on the life of Christ in and through the Gospels and on the Holy Spirit in Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation. As you read Stott, you’ll encounter a humble voice that’s friendly and courteous, but also joyful and optimistic.

The information on each page is easy to decipher, (without having to have a Ph.D in your back pocket), but it is also rich in Biblical truth and will cause the reader to exclaim “I thought I knew everything but I didn’t know that! Maybe I should share that with my senior pastor.” Using this book as my devotional for this year has rekindled my desire to be in the “Word” even more.

"It should enable us, whether we belong to a so-called liturgical church or not, to recapitulate every year the whole biblical story from the creation in Genesis to the consummation in Revelation 22," Stott writes about his book.

I’d highly recommend this book for those interested in a structured, biblically sound and excellent tool to be in the Word daily.